Guest Columnists

Colorado education measure no David vs. Goliath despite the money

Backers of a statewide school financing reform measure Amendment 66 on next week's ballot carry boxes of petition signatures into the Colorado secretary of state's office on Aug. 5, 2013. (Helen H. Richardson, The Denver Post)

Despite a $10 million war chest, big-name national support and armies of volunteers working out of 18 field offices, the effort to pass an education reform and funding measure worth $950 million a year is hardly a David vs. Goliath showdown.

Yes, the Yes on 66 campaign recently racked up donations of $1 million each from New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and philanthropists Bill and Melinda Gates, and its TV ads are seemingly everywhere.

And yes, Amendment 66 has the support of Gov. John Hickenlooper, who has an enviable track record in pushing tax measures, and this year's effort is being sold around the state by one of the legislature's most charismatic members, Sen. Mike Johnston.

But that doesn't mean Amendment 66, a constitutional amendment that calls for sweeping changes to how schools are funded, will succeed on Tuesday.

"It's easier to get a 'no' vote on a ballot measure than a 'yes' vote," said Denver political consultant Katy Atkinson.

"Those of us who do a lot of ballot issue campaigns always prefer the 'no' side. It's like a jury trial; all you have to do is raise reasonable doubt. That's often times easier than laying out a complicated case, especially for a tax increase."

And there are doubts, even among some traditional education allies who worry about how tax money raised by Amendment 66 will be spent.

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The opposition is counting on a shaky economy, a split in the business community and Hickenlooper's recent unpopularity because of the Democratic politician's decisions this year on gun control and the death penalty.

"It's going to be a tough sell for the backers. That's why they need $10 million," said Kelly Maher, executive director of Compass Colorado, a conservative group that has teamed up with the Independence Institute think tank to fight the measure.

Curtis Hubbard, spokesman for the Yes on 66 campaign, declined to discuss specific strategies for getting the measure passed, but noted more than 400 groups and a number of school boards statewide are backing the measure.

Johnston, the architect of Amendment 66, has traveled the state for two years, outlining the problems with education funding and explaining the fixes he believes are necessary. Recently, the Denver Democrat participated in four debates in a single day.

He said voters have complex questions about how Amendment 66 changes the constitution, their taxes and school policy.

"That takes more than a 30-second TV ad," Johnston said.

Not that he's dissing his side's multi-million-dollar ad buy.

"TV is still the dominant messenger, but we've invested a lot in the field campaigns, and we have really gone on the belief that we want to help people understand this," the lawmaker said.

Opponents also are talking to individual groups, but they've aired only two ads — and neither mentions Amendment 66, just tax hikes.

Maher said part of the strategy is earned media, in Colorado and nationally because "if this passes, Colorado is seen as the petri dish."

The efforts at getting free press included a successful pitch on the perils of Amendment 66 to the Wall Street Journal, which then wrote a piece called "Rocky Mountain High Taxes."

"If it does pass," the WSJ wrote, "we'll also know that millions of Coloradans have taken to smoking that marijuana they legalized last year."

The other statewide measure on the ballot this year involves taxing marijuana. In addition, local jurisdictions have their own ballot issues, many involving tax measures.

Magellan Strategies, a Colorado political consulting firm, reported that as of Wednesday, more than 525,000 ballots in the all-mail ballot election had been returned.

Magellan's chief executive officer, David Flaherty, said that nearly a quarter of the ballots are from voters who did not participate in the 2009 and 2011 off-year elections. One factor in increased voting this year, he and Hubbard said, could be a new elections law that requires ballots be sent to all voters.

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